


The Song of Persephone

by crackdkettle



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-10
Updated: 2014-05-10
Packaged: 2018-01-24 05:59:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1594166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crackdkettle/pseuds/crackdkettle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He is never coming home from this war.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Song of Persephone

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr ficlet originally posted [here](http://crackdkettle.tumblr.com/post/85271861890/). Set during _Captain America: The First Avenger_.

Steve thinks they’re Orpheus and Eurydice with a happy ending: he marched right into Hell, defied Death itself, climbed into the sunlight and never looked back, so they both got out in this version.

That’s the problem though: He never looked back. He never saw that he wasn’t bringing back Eurydice – he was bringing back Persephone.

Schmidt and Zola forced Hell’s fruit down his throat, made him Death’s unwilling consort, and Bucky will never be able to fully climb out of that pit. He is never coming home from this war.

_I thought you were dead,_ was the first thing Steve said, and Bucky looks at him some nights, sleeping on the goddamn ground with a goddamn smile, and wants to say, _But I am. Oh, I am._

Wants to say, _You didn’t save me. You couldn’t._

Wants to say, _Be careful believing in miracles._

Steve marches them back into Hell over and over again, shield shining on his arm like the goddamn sun, and Bucky lies on his belly in the shadows, keeps Steve in his sights and chokes on the sickly-sweet blood of pomegranates in the back of his throat.

He is never coming home from this war.

_You’re heroes,_ a kid tells them, and Steve’s smile lights up the whole damn camp, and Bucky thinks, _But heroes don’t get happy endings. You stupid, stubborn, goddamn punk. You couldn’t stay home. You ruined it. You’re gonna end bloody like the rest of them._

But Steve stands in the sunlight, an untouchable god, and Bucky swallows down the blood and thinks maybe Steve will defeat this too: Maybe he’ll make it through unscathed, finally dance with a partner who wants him and build the life he always wanted.

And it won’t be with Bucky.

Because myths don’t have happy endings.

And he is never coming home from this war.


End file.
